At the end of 2016, the 1st Russian crystallographic congress “From convergence of sciences to nature-friendly technologies” was held in Moscow. It was organized by the Russian National Committee for Crystallography, the National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” and the Federal Research Center “Crystallography and Photonics” of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Chairman of the Congress, President of the Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”, the RAS Corresponding Member M.V. Kovalchuk believes that development of science-intensive technologies today is possible only on the basis of crystallography. What kind of science it is and what it gives to our country — the issues discussed with Mikhail Valentinovich.